Regulus' Adventure
by MysteriousMissSirius
Summary: A OneShot about Regulus' first experience in the Muggle world.


**Regulus' Adventure**

**Written for the following challenges on the 'Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges' forum:  
- When I grow up Challenge** by theintrigueddirigibleplum**  
- Regulus Black Competition** by Thanatos Angelos Girl**  
- ****Muggle Fascination Challenge** by Fourmille d'idees

**My prompts: Rollercoaster, computer, "What does not kill me only makes me stronger", Somebody I used to know by Gotye, hurricane and computer.**

* * *

Regulus was sitting on the only chair in the corner of the room, wobbling his short legs.

"Mummy, when are we leaving?" he asked his mother desperately. Ever since they had entered the little shop, he'd wanted to leave. He didn't like the dark, dull, small place. He wanted to go back to the telescopes and strange silver instruments he'd seen on his way here. "They are for star gazing," the vender had said when he'd caught him staring, "perfectly for a Black."

"A tricky costumer, eh?" the old shopkeeper said and his parents started smiling at that sentence.

Regulus was bored. This day was all about his brother. Regulus almost didn't get any attention at all.

Just wait until I set off to Hogwarts, he thought. Then I will get all the attention, while Sirius has to sit and wait.

But then again, when he would set off to Hogwarts, Sirius would have friends to hang out with while visiting Diagon Alley.

"Mum, when are we leaving?" he asked again, for his mother hadn't answered his first question. But his mother didn't even look up. Nothing could tear her attention away from her oldest son buying his first wand.

"Dad?" Regulus tried, to see if his father would look up. But he'd known before he asked that his father thought wands were more important than wailing little children.

Regulus looked out of the windows of the shop. The brightness of the sun outside was tempting. He looked back into the tiny shop where he currently was. Thousands of narrow boxes containing wands were piled right up to the ceiling of the tiny shop, and the whole place had a thin layer of dust about it. It took him only a minute to decide. He jumped from the chair he was sitting on and opened the door quietly. The old shopkeeper was currently rumbling through some boxes with wands in the back of the shop, and his parents were talking to Sirius, so he got away unnoticed. As soon as he closed the door behind him, he breathed in the fresh air. 'Where to go?' he thought.

Then, the tiny silver instruments came into his mind again and the nine years old set off in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron. He had always loved the stars and the moon. Maybe he could persuade his mother to buy one of the instruments for him. Then he could sit in front of his window every night and watch the moon. That would be wonderful, he thought.

After what seemed an hour to him, his short legs had brought him to the Leaky Cauldron. Confused, he looked around. The shop with the silver instruments used to be in front of… No, perhaps he was mistaken. Perhaps it lay _behind_ the Leaky Cauldron.

He made his way through the pub quickly, barely noticed by anyone. However, one pair of blue eyes followed him all the way out of the pub. Once he'd excited the pub, he knew something was wrong. He was standing on a street. A Muggle street. Those noisy boxes on wheels Muggles used to sit in were rushing past him and he just stood there and waited.

He didn't know what exactly he was waiting for. Perhaps he was just waiting for something to happen. But there was one thing he was sure about; the silver instruments weren't to be found on this side of the Leaky Cauldron.

Just as he was about to turn around and go back, he heard a friendly voice next to him. "Hello, dear. Is there something wrong? Are you lost?"

Regulus looked up and stared into a pair of light grey, kind, unfamiliar eyes. They belonged to a woman with blonde hair, dressed up in a strange way that made Regulus sure she was a Muggle. And he wasn't allowed to talk to Muggles. His parents would kill him if they found out.

When Regulus didn't answer her, she continued: "Where are your parents?"

Regulus looked back to the Leaky Cauldron, not sure whether he should answer her or not.

The woman looked at the small, old pub. "Are your parents in there?" she asked confused and Regulus nodded. "That must be a mistake, dear. That pub has been closed down for years."

Regulus looked at the pub again. He suddenly wasn't sure anymore it was the right pub. It looked indeed as if it hadn't been opened for years. When his family had come to Diagon Alley today, they'd flooed right into the pub; he'd never seen it's outside before. Maybe it was the pub next to... no, that wasn't a pub.

Regulus turned his gaze back to the woman, who smiled kindly at his alarmed expression.

"Do you want me to help you looking for them?"

Regulus knew his parents wouldn't like it if a 'filthy Muggle' would bring back their son, but he felt so lost that he didn't know what else to do. "Yes, please," he whispered.

The women smiled again. "Where did you last see them?" she asked, while squatting in front of him.

Regulus tried to remember the wand shop's name, but he couldn't recall it, so he said: "By the wands."

"In the toyshop, you mean?" the woman asked confused.

"I think so," Regulus replied. He didn't know which toy shop the woman was talking about but it was probably located on Diagon Alley. Once there, he could recognise the stores and find the way back to his parents on his own. And he had seen Muggles in Diagon Alley before, so he was sure she could enter it.

The woman took him by his hand and brought him to a shop across the Muggle street. She had a quick word with the vendor behind the counter before she turned back to him and lifted him onto the counter. "Do you see your parents anywhere?" she asked. Regulus looked around in the Muggle toyshop and shook his head.

The vendor looked at him kindly. "Do you know their phone number?"

Regulus shook his head again, too shy to reply. He didn't know what a phone was at all.

"What is your name?" the vendor asked. "I could look their phone number up on the internet and then we could call them."

"My name is Regulus. Regulus Black."

"Black? That could give a lot of results. What is your daddy's first name?"

"Orion."

"Hm, Orion Black," the man repeated while pressing the buttons of a strange machine.

"What is that?" Regulus asked, pointing at the machine.

"It's a computer, dear. Don't you know what a computer is?" the woman said.

"No," Regulus said, staring at it fascinated. The vendor could change the colours on the screen by moving a strange object and clicking with it. He stared at the screen awestruck. "How does it work? What magic does it uses?"

The woman started laughing. "It doesn't use magic, Regulus. But how it exactly works I don't know. I'm no computer specialist."

Regulus kept looking at the so called 'computer'. "What can you use it for?" he asked in awe.

"A lot of things," the vendor replied. "You can look up things, or register every article you sell a day. I mean that's what we use this one for. Or you can play music, or send e-mails to your friends. And these are just a few examples of the many possibilities."

Regulus was utterly amazed. Could you do all that with just one machine? "Can you show me?" he asked, a smile lighting up his face. And the two grownups couldn't resist that heart breaking smile. The vendor opened a screen, clicked a random song and seconds later 'Somebody that I used to know' by Gotye was coming out of the speakers. Regulus smiled, started laughing and attempted to sing along, although he'd never heard the song before. This, of course, encouraged other customers to sing along too, and soon enough, the song was to be heard throughout the entire shop.

When the song was over, the woman looked at the adorable child, wishing it was her own.

"Regulus, haven't you see your parents yet?" she asked him. Regulus looked around, but didn't notice his parents anywhere. Instead, he noticed something else. A small Muggle boy was begging his mother to buy something. When Regulus looked closer, he noticed it was a miniature rollercoaster. "Please mum," the boy wailed, but the woman shook her head.

"Do you like rollercoasters, Regulus?" the kind woman asked him, following his gaze. Regulus shrugged. "I've never been in one," he replied. "My parents won't allow it."

The woman was about to reply, but exactly at that moment, four persons came rushing into the shop and the blue eyes that'd followed Regulus out of the Leaky Cauldron fixed on the boy on the counter.

"There he is, Aunt Walburga," said Narcissa, and Regulus' mother ran over to him.

"Regulus!" his mother shouted. "Are you alright? Have these people harmed you? Have they done anything to you?"

"They were helping me to find you, mummy," Regulus objected.

"Regulus, come. We're going back. Now," his father said sternly, while looking around in the Muggle shop as if he smelled something bad. Then, Regulus noticed his brother's expression and chuckled. Sirius seemed to have completely forgotten the box he was holding (which contained a wand), and was looking around in awe.

His mother was meanwhile angrily discussing something with the vendor behind the counter. Regulus caught the word 'kidnapping!' and felt bad for the man who'd been so nice to him. But he wasn't planning on interrupting his mother. That would be the same as asking a hurricane to go and blow somewhere else.

After a few minutes, his parents and Narcissa seemed to realise they had been in the Muggle shop for way to long already for their reputation. Grapping Regulus' hand firmly and taking Sirius by his sleeve, the family exited the shop. But at the last moment, Regulus looked around, and mouthed 'thank you' to the kind woman. She smiled and looked at him with pity in her gaze.

They returned to Diagon Alley and Regulus had to promise never to take off on his own and to never talk to Muggles again. He nodded reluctantly as his parents thanked Narcissa for alerting them.

When the family continued their shopping trip, Regulus went to walk next to his brother for a while.

"Reg, have you seen that rollercoaster that kid was holding?" Sirius asked with sparkling eyes, too low for their parents to hear.

"Yes, it was so cool. I would give anything to sit in a rollercoaster just once."

"Aren't you afraid of heights?"

"So what? What does not kill me only makes me stronger," Regulus said wisely and his brother nodded approvingly.

"That's a Gryffindor's spirit, little brother. You might join me there in two years."

Regulus scowled. "I won't be a Gryffindor. And neither will you. That's impossible if your whole family has been in Slytherin."

"Well, then I'll be the one to break the tradition, trust me," Sirius said with a grin.

They were silent for a moment. Then, Regulus looked at his brother hesitantly.

"Sirius? I don't think Muggles are as bad as mum and dad say they are," he whispered.

"They aren't, Reggie. I know they aren't."

Regulus nodded thoughtfully. "Can you show it to me, once? Can you show me the Muggle world? You know a lot about it."

"I don't know as much as you think I do. But perhaps, I'll befriend a Muggleborn wizard at Hogwarts. Then I can ask him to introduce us to the Muggle world."

His eyes started sparkling at the idea, and for the first time, Regulus' did as well.

"We'll go in a rollercoaster, Sirius," he said. "We'll sing Muggle songs and we will buy a computer and –"

"What's a come-buter, Regulus," his mother asked, turning around. Regulus cringed, for he'd talked too loud in his excitement.

"He didn't say that, mum. He said 'come brother'," Sirius said immediately, and Regulus was surprised how fast his brother could come up with an excuse.

After his mother looked away again, Regulus' eyes met his brother's.

"Deal," Sirius' eyes said.

* * *

**A/N: Please don't comment on Narcissa fetching his parents instead of just going after him; I needed Sirius in the toy shop... ;)**

**I hope you liked it. Thank you for reading!**

**~MysteriousMissSirius**


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